


with friends like these, who needs enemies?

by lover_of_blue_roses



Series: Smile Week 2020 [4]
Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Arguing, Basically Smile Breaks Up, Fighting, Gen, but queen is supportive, friends will be friends, severed!brian, smile week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:34:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23181049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lover_of_blue_roses/pseuds/lover_of_blue_roses
Summary: When Tim finds out about Brian being severed from his daemon, Tim loses it, but don't worry Brian'll find out who his real friends are in Roger and Freddie.
Relationships: Brian May & Freddie Mercury & Roger Taylor
Series: Smile Week 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1662739
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24
Collections: Smile Weekend





	with friends like these, who needs enemies?

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: daemon au

When Roger enters their reserved recording space he's not surprised to find Tim and Freddie arguing. Ever since their album flopped, if that is the right word for complete and absolute failure when no one expected any better of them, Freddie had been... more forceful in his opinions. He feels that now that he's had validation, they have to listen to his advice.

Tim... well Tim certainly doesn't agree. The argument has escalated to the point where Tim is shoving into Freddie's chest and their daemons hiss and clatter at each other threateningly. Tim's bustard clacked its peak and puffed up its feathers while Freddie's mouflon pawed the ground with his hoof. 

Roger looks at them for a moment more, trying to understand what they are saying, well aware that one of his flaws is how hot-headed he can be and what is actually most helpful in this kind of situation is to manage his anger. But they are yelling so loudly and passionately that he can't make heads or tails of it. So he looks instead for their guitarist.

Brian is standing apart, huddled into himself with tears starting to form in his eyes. Oh fuck- Roger runs up to him, Ariel following on his trail, embracing the guitarist in a tight hug. It doesn't matter what's going on, he's going to fuck up whoever caused their sensitive soul to hurt this way. 

Like Roger said, he's well aware of what others might see as his flaws. Not only is he hot-headed but he's cocky. In his defense, he feels it's fair, he knows how hard he works, how smart he is, and even though it is little of his own doing, how attractive other people find him. And this attitude reflects in many aspects of his life including how much space he takes up which was probably why his daemon was so big. 

Ariel is a wolf, as fierce as her human and far larger than the average settled daemon form. The average daemon form were more practical animals that weren't any bigger than a microwave. As much as having such a large one could be inconvenient in such a busy city, in public transport or even in the school halls, he wouldn't change her for the world. Although he'd love a car where she can ride shotgun rather than ever take the tube again. 

People find her threatening, because they are right, she is a threat. Things would have to be pretty desperate for her to willing touch another human, well aware of how horribly violating that feels, but that doesn't mean she's not going to pass uncomfortably close to Freddie and Tim with her maw open and her teeth bared.

As much as Roger might hope this would make them snap out of it, it only seems to make Tim anger- he looks like he's going to blow. "What's going on?" Roger asks and Brian clutches all the more desperately to him, as though he knows whatever's going to happen next will ruin their friendship- that surely seems unlikely as Roger rubs soothing circles on his back. 

"So he didn't tell you either?!" Tim explains as he looks ready to throw down with Brian, only Freddie standing in his way. He points his finger aggressively as he shouts accusations, "You know what he's been hiding? What's wrong with him-"

"NOTHING is wrong with him!!" Freddie roars as ferociously as his ram, pushing Tim backwards.

But Brian confesses, speaking in a small fragile voice, "I'm a severed."

Roger's gasp is completely involuntary as he turns, so quickly that it breaks him out of their half-hug, to look stunned at Brian who steadily avoids his eyes in favor of the floor. "That's-" Roger doesn't even know what to say, he's so shocked mostly because- "I would have never guessed." He tries to show the best he can through his touch that he does not reject Brian, curling a hand through his hair and petting him softly. 

And Roger is being honest, he's never gone terribly far from Ariel and thus really can't begin to imagine. But he has heard about it and had most certainly seen how Tim reacted when his Jackie had thoughtlessly flown up too many stories and Tim had been left aching and hurting from pulling. 

He looks over Brian's head to see Freddie's twisting expression. What does that mean? Is he not really on Brian's side or did he possibly know about all of this before today, or at least suspect it from Brian's behavior? 

Brian wasn't necessarily just quieter than Rog but also shy, more introverted, in such a way that it seemed logical to extend that to his daemon also being a foil of his. Something small, very small, and unintrusive. So small that she spent all her time tucked away in a pocket, possibly some nocturnal thing sleeping all day and up when Brian would go look at his stars, and that's why Roger never spotted her. There are countless tiny daemons that fit into pockets and they have extremely popular with people that had physical jobs that would be otherwise encumbered such as roofers and steeplejacks. 

Brian wears baggy clothing, and Roger had assumed it was probably to hide her in one of his bulging pockets, or to hide the lack of bulge. Some people had very old fashion opinions about daemons' forms. Women used to be burned at the stake if theirs was a black cat and it remains common to look down on people that have pests for forms. Roger had wondered if Brian's wasn't a bug, that would certainly fit some aspects of his personality. Or maybe a spider. Roger could easily imagine a jar tucked away in one of his pockets with a daddy long legs.

The few cases in which people who were severed survived, they were left... duller. Blank and lifeless, subdued and reduced in, well everything, willpower, intelligence and creativity. All things Brian had in spades despite his melancholic tendencies. 

But clearly Tim doesn't agree, "I don't know if I'd ever let a severed into my band, I guess you've proven you're not so dead inside that you can still function, although what the fuck does that mean about you- But how can I abide a fucking liar!"

Roger understands where Tim's coming from, Roger doesn't like being lied to either but this- this makes sense. "And when exactly did you think it'd be appropriate for him to tell you? When you first met? When he 'auditioned'? It's fucking private you can't imagine him telling everyone like they aren't fucking going to be weird about it, treat him differently, and all that bullshit-" Roger was torn between waving his arms emphatically and clutching desperately to Brian.

"I don't know! But anytime between now and then would have been a good idea. I don't know- how about when we signed that contract deal or fucking hell- how about when we were considering signing that lease to start rooming together."

When Tim had fallen through, Roger had been the flatmate to consider, and while a part of him was hurt at not being trusted, if this was how people reacted he more than understood. Not to mention-"The fuck difference would that make?" Freddie argued. "So what if your flatmate or band mate is severed, why the fuck should that matter to you?"

Roger can hear the horrible hurtful things he's heard all his life even if Tim doesn't say them, that the severed are less than human, akin to sociopaths and serial killers, that don't care and don't have anything left to lose. As though they weren't people, living, breathing, feeling people, that were still just as capable of loving and caring despite the horrific trauma they've endured, been forced to endure. 

Tim just shakes his head without answering, possibly because he knows what he's saying is unjustified, even if unfortunately many people still believe it. He picks up his bass still in its case and his Jackie waits impatiently near the door. He turns back when passing the threshold to spit out, "I wish I’d never met you," as he leaves hopefully for good. 

"That wanker," Roger grumbles. "I say good fucking riddance. If that's how he's going to be to someone he's known for three years, can't imagine how he treats strangers. Fucking bet he's gonna grow up to be a wife beater too."

Brian gently shakes his head against Roger's hold. Despite being taller than him, Brian has left his knees crumple so he can be tucked up Roger's chin. Ariel is behind, rubbing the back of Roger's legs in comfort. "That's not- That's not fair. I understand tempers are running high, and- and thank you of course for your defense of me," he shyly peeks an eye to Freddie, extending his hand that Freddie eagerly squeezes. "But Tim really isn't- He isn't that bad, I don't think he's a bigot, I just think-"

"That he was betrayed, that you broke his trust," Freddie is- well his feelings are rather mixed at the moment, he understands where Tim is coming from. He can't- he sinks his finger's into Sherry's fur ground himself in her presences. She was born with the name Shreya as he was Farrokh but they'd taken to English wholeheartedly. He couldn't begin to imagine what it's like for Brian, are he and his not in such lockstep of the same thoughts, the same mind. What must his life be without his daemon by his side? 

Even as Freddie can understand the... it feels harsh to say horror and yet- to be without one's demon- one might as well go without a face; he thinks Tim spoke to harshly, acted to cruelty. This terrible trauma Brian has lived through is not his fault, if anything it makes him stronger, all the more courage to go through the terrible world so alone and distant. 

Yet the reason Freddie speaks with words that could be so cold is so that Brian can defend himself. It doesn't happen, the guitarist stands there as little more than a doormat but Roger remains fierce that he might have a lion snarling at his feet. "What was he supposed to go up to Tim and introduce himself that way? Huh? When was he suppose to tell him, is that not what he did today and look at how well that fucker took it, this isn't Brian's fault-it's not..." Roger trails off holding his wolf tightly by the nape as though he's afraid she'll crumble to dust. 

"There's-While we are on the topic of honesty," Brian tries his best to diffuse the situation without ever acknowledging that Tim's words were harsh or that his own actions were justified, as though he feels he deserves this, as though he has past experience to draw from. All of Freddie's ambivalent feelings or slight resentment from the truth being withheld from him is vanishing like the dark of night before the sun. Brian clears his throat awkwardly and somehow seems to stiffen even more, even as Roger and Freddie stroke him with soothing touches, exactly like one might do to calm a dog during a thunderstorm.

"Mine is- My parents named them Lynda but- their-"

Freddie has actually had this discussion before with the increasingly colorful friends he's making. "They're not a girl, are they?" Roger makes a silent 'oh' over Brian's growing out mess passing as hair. 

Brian nods and thankfully trusts them well enough to curl his head more into the group-hug but this still means that someone has taught him that it is a shameful and bad thing. "There's nothing wrong with that, happens to loads of people," Roger answers casually. The number is small, tiny on the whole but say, less common than red heads but more common that dwarfism. 

"So he goes by Lynn because-" Brian shrugs. Seems good enough for them, it's very close to the original, it's a name that's more prevalent for girls than for boys but it's still extremely common for both. And honestly they are honored that their friend is so open and sharing about their daemon. Only close friends and families tend to know the name of ones daemons. Roger was a very open person and while Freddie tended to play it closer to the chest, he had also divulged Sherry's name because they'd grown so close and simply had spent so much time together pissed out of their minds. "But I'd really like you to meet, if you'd-"

"Yeah, love to see this new place," Roger says in such a way that implies he's very much going to be picking up the slack from Tim refusing to room with Brian over this.

And so they head over to Brian's place rather silently as Roger and Freddie still try to come to a grips with this new reality. As down and grey as Brian can get, they- He's honestly doing so well for someone severed, nothing could be more commendable. They wonder if his daemon will be doing as well. Much like their humans, daemons are subdued, blank, incurious and unmotivated once severed. Brian can admirably hide it but how will the manifestation of his soul show it. Freddie imagines a beautiful but molting bird while Roger imagines a fox that has started to self-bite.

But when they arrive it's to find a quiet but not wholly subdued roe deer that looks at them with curiosity and almost pleasure. They don't know how much if at all Brian and Lynn continue to share their mental bond and have no intention of asking right now, especially after today has been so trying. "Hello," Brian greets cheerfully as they arrive and Lynn seems very much just as pleased to see him as they cuddle. 

Lynn is on the bigger side for a daemon, about two feet at the shoulder, but smaller than either Roger or Freddie's. It's a joke that their big forms are to compensate their big personalities and it might not be wholly wrong, even if Freddie tends to put it on as a persona rather than be true to his natural self. Maybe with one that big, Brian really does have what it takes to be rockstar rather than an astrophysicist.


End file.
